Whatever You Do in Russia, Don’t Talk About the War
As Ukraine brings the war home to Russia, officials hesitate to designate shelters and blast sirens, downplaying the conflict’s consequences with euphemisms. Manezhnaya Square, in Moscow, on Tuesday. Credit... Igor Ivanko/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By Valerie Hopkins June 29, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ET The New York Times The war in Ukraine is a “Special Military Operation,” even though it’s the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. Across Russia, officials blame fuel shortages on “unscheduled maintenance at refineries” without noting a cause, as Ukrainian drones attack fuel refining facilities in the country. And Russia’s central bank governor has talked of the “structural transformation of the economy,” as code for military spending that has spiraled and reoriented the economy around the military-industrial complex. For years, President Vladimir V. Putin has insulated Russian society from the consequences of his war in Ukraine, using euphemisms as a psychological shie...